The United States is planning to attack al Qaeda militants in Yemen in retaliation for the attempt to bring down an aeroplane over Detroit on Christmas Day, it has been reported.

Intelligence efforts are said to be focused on finding those involved in the plot to get Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the Northwest Airlines plane with explosives in his underwear.

Security officials are also likely to identify other “high value” al Qaeda targets who could be the target of strikes.

The suggestion comes as US President Barack Obama condemned the “systemic failures” that saw intelligence about a Nigerian trained in Yemen planning a bomb attack squandered with the potential cost of hundreds of lives.